Past Grand Sire Archon Cornell L. Moore and Archousa Wenda Weekes Moore

Prominent Twin Cities attorney Cornell Moore and his wife, Wenda Weekes Moore, were toasted Tuesday for their philanthropic and community work with a jazz-and-champagne reception at the Minneapolis Club.

The couple, who have contributed significant amounts of time and cash to causes as varied as education, publishing and public affairs, were given the 2010 Legacy Award by the Pan African Community Endowment.

Past winners of the award, which promotes philanthropy among blacks and was first given in 2000, include businessman Archie Givens Jr., retired university president and corporate executive Reatha Clark King and Robyne Robinson.

Weekes Moore, a trustee at the Michigan-based W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and her husband, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney, bantered in their humor-filled acceptance speeches. But he turned serious about community service, paraphrasing Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard: "You live your life looking forward but you understand it looking backward," he said.

ROHAN PRESTON